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The enormous Green Lake landslide in New Zealand

Worldwide there is a small number of landslides that a\re so large that they are almost impossible to comprehend. The Green Lake landslide in Fjordland, New Zealand, is one such example. This is a landslide that is so enormous that early mappers failed to recognise is at a slide; indeed the first proper description of the Green Lake landslide as a mass movement only occurred in 1983.

Based on this I have attempted to draw the approximate boundaries of the landslide onto the Google Earth image:-

The boundaries of the Green Lake landslide in New Zealand. Google Earth image.

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This landslide clearly occurred after the glaciers retreated, and thus must be younger than 14,000 years old. Dating such a landslide is difficult, but Hancox and Perrin (2009) concluded that it probably happened 12,00 to 13,000 years ago. The cause of the landslide is of course hard to determine, but the glaciers had probably left the landscape in an oversteepened and thus unstable state. This part of New Zealand is subject to extremely large earthquakes. Hancox and Perrin modeled the stability of the site based on a reconstruction of the original topography, and concluded that it was very sensitive to seismic accelerations. Thus, a large earthquake is considered to have been the most likely trigger.

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About Dave

Dave Petley is the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. His blog provides a commentary on landslide events occurring worldwide, including the landslides themselves, latest research, and conferences and meetings.

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